Satellite of Love
Rumble arrives, bringing with him some sort of levitating cart which contains components for the satellite. Rumble himself has clearly been in a scuff recently; he has a bullet hole in his chestplate, and some other signs of a recent fight, but otherwise is his usual self. Perhaps having some damage *is* pretty typical for him. Once he reaches the satellite worksite, he deactivates the cart, then begins unloading the contents. Soundwave is welding. Sparks fly in the dimly lit hangar, as he works on some base component of the satellite itself. Lots of mechanical parts for the launcher. Not too far away, several large metal sheets seem to have a purpose. "RUMBLE." He looks over to you and the cart, ""THIS IS DELICATE EQUIPMENT, AND MUST BE TREATED WITH CAUTION." Perhaps a bit chiding, but definitely not the same tone he'd use for anyone other than his own. The Tape Commander gestures to it, "THIS WILL SEAL THE FATE OF AUTOBOT OPERATIONS IN CRYSTAL CITY. IF DEEMED EFFECTIVE ENOUGH IT MAY BE USED IN FURTHER OPERATIONS." "Right!" Rumble says agreeably, nodding. He's probably one of the more dedicated grunt-work soldiers ever to serve the Decepticons. While others tend to leave this sort of dirty work for the drones and pursue their own selfish interests, Rumble is all about dirty work. Of course, he has selfish interests, as well, but he has a far more dependable track record for getting things done behind the scenes. "That's why I got this cart, here, cause it ain't got the wheels on it. Parts won't be bumpin' around." He eyes the satellite in progress. "...So what all's this thing gonna do? Just surveillance? Is it gonna be used to blow up Autobots, too?" Soundwave pauses. He scans the area for intelligence agents, loose lipped Cons and the like. It takes him a moment to answer, after determining that only the Con Guards are in this area, and their vocalizers were removed. He kneels down, "WHEN COMPLETE, THIS SATELLITE WILL BE MOBILIZED AS A RAIL CANNON WITH UNUSUAL PAYLOAD." He pauses, "IT WILL BE LIKE A VERY LARGE BALLISTIC WEAPON....". "A GUN. BUT IT WILL FIRE THESE LARGE SHEETS. SENDING SHEETS THIS LARGE INTO THE CRUST OF CYBERTRON WILL BE ABLE TO CUT OFF SOME OF THE CRYSTAL CITY TUNNEL NETWORK." He adds after a moment, "AND AFTER THIS WELDING IS COMPLETE I WILL HAVE TO REMOVE IT FROM YOUR MEMORY AGAIN, TO ENSURE YOU DON'T TALK OPENLY ON +D" Rumble grins eagerly. "Wow, that's great!" He doesn't even care that he'll need to be memory-wiped; for some reason, he has to get that done every so often. Probably because he's the best tape-con ever built, he wagers. It *has* to be that *he's* special, and the rest of those clowns are not! "That'll sure mess them up!" Soundwave picks up the spanner core, adding it into the electronic array. "RUMBLE, OF ALL THE AUTOBOTS, WHO WILL FIND THEMSELVES IN THE WORST SITUATION IF BLOCKED OFF, UNDERGROUND?" He taps a few buttons, registering the readout as he lays it out for his minion. Sometimes it paid to help teach little punks, even the mighty Tiny God of War himself...even if he gets wiped afterwards. Perhaps eventually it'd stick. He reexamines the rail length. The Constructicons were as good as always, everything seemed up to code so far. It was just Soundwave though, who did the intricate work... Rumble thinks. Really, really hard. This one is super-tough for him. Anything that doesn't have to do with destroying things or punching out other jerks really takes a lot of processing time for him. "Uhhh...." He suddenly snaps his fingers. "That Pandoras guy??" Soundwave hesitates, "TOO FAR UNDERGROUND. TO SEND THIS WEAPON THAT FAR DOWN WOULD REQUIRE A MUCH MORE POWERFUL REACTOR AND DISPLAY. NO. THIS IS FOR CRYSTAL CITY, AND TO ENTRAP THE AUTOBOT INTEL COMMANDER." He leaves the name unspoken for the moment. "Oh yeah, Blurr! Good thinkin', boss." Rumble gives a few more processing moments to that. "...So this is gonna be pretty fast, then? Cause if he hears it comin', he could maybe outrun it." He doesn't doubt that Blurr can outrun some ordinance. Soundwave looks down at his tape, "THE SHEET WILL ENTER CYBERTRON'S ATMOSPHERE AT SUPERSONIC SPEEDS. RADAR IS NOT A PRIMARY AUTOBOT TRAIT. HE WON'T KNOW IT IS THERE UNTIL IT HITS. HE IS FOOLISH, AND HESITANT. WHEN HE SEES OTHERS IN DANGER, HE WILL MOVE TO ASSIST THEM, AND HIS OPTIONS WILL GROW EVER LESS." Soundwave touches a button. The launcher behind him, shoots forward about seventy feet, making a hiss as it does, with no payload. Rumble looks really impressed. It's probably a good thing he's getting mindwiped of the project, because he'd probably be tempted to play with this thing like some kind of giant toy. "This is gonna be *great!*" he exclaims eagerly. "We gotta get this thing done, cause I wanna see it get used!" Soundwave hrmmms to himself. If Rumble was on board, perhaps he was missing something. "IN DUE TIME. BLURR'S MISTAKE IS HIS ARROGANCE, BUT TO ENSURE WE CATCH *ALL* THE FACTIONS, WE WILL WAIT FOR THEM TO MOVE TO STRIKE. THEN OUR ADDED REINFORCEMENTS WILL FALL UPON THEM." He takes a moment to calcuate, "ESTIMATED CHANCE OF SUBDUING THE SENTINELS, HIGH. ELIMINATING AUTOBOT MENACE, FAIR.....ELIMINATING BLURR, HIGH." The Tape Commander lets out a short dark laugh, his tone haunting and disturbing. ***DECEPTICON SPINNY*** Orbit of Cybertron(#95RLntNu) - Cybertron The world floats serenely below in remote, golden splendor, most imperfections removed by distance and the obscuration of the enveloping atmosphere, except for that huge, missing chunk in the lower quadrant. The icy vacuum of space is studded with jeweled stars that blaze with unearthly brightness, overshadowed - or overbrightened - by the brightly, golden light of the two suns of this system and the occasional flash of prismatic light from Tria, one of the moons. Contents: Some sort of..Death Satellite being built Rumble Space Shuttle Swindle Decepticon Shuttle Decepticon Starship Autobot Sensor #10484 Unicron's Head Decepticon Sensor #6832 Obvious exits: Down leads to Stratosphere above the Southern Hemisphere. Down leads to Stratosphere above the Northern Hemisphere. Down leads to Stratosphere above the Equator. Escape Orbit leads to Alpha Centauri System. Crystal City Hydrax Plateau Iacon Ibex Mithril Sea Polyhex Tyger Pax Space Shuttle soars along in his element- outer space. The Combaticon space shuttle and CO of Aerospace is in charge of making sure the installation of the "Death Satellite" runs smoothly and finishes in time. Sadly for him and his dislike of being a "mere transport", that also means he has to actually /transport/ some of the materials being used to build the weapon. The Combaticon shuttle drifts close to where the satellite is being built, numerous Decepticon gumbies and construction workers scrambling to get the thing finished in time, lest they be made into so much space debris.... Time for him to deposit some of the materials and see how things are going. And once Blast Off is into position Swindle opens his hatch and pushes out a large transport crate. Which isn't really all that hard since they're in orbit and thus little gravity. Blast Off may of heard him muttering about a thing or two about certain blue pain in the drivetrain dangling some unspoken matter over his head, but by the time they're here he's all his usual greasy charm and cheerfulness. "Another delivery, right on time." Rumble has a levitating cart handy. In space, everything levitates, but this one defies floating off due to gravitational pull by having miniature thrusters keep the contents of the cart steady and balanced at all times. On that cart are some very delicate parts for the satellite engineers to install. He stands by this cart, which happens to be bigger than his, and once Blast Off docks, he takes the transport out onto the unloading platform dutifully. Soundwave is awaiting in Orbit, with the Decepticon Engineer Corps which means, yes, Loco is there, the special-ops mech who looks like an old school train conductor. Soundwave gestures to the orbiting drones, which start identifying pieces, and tractoring them in. Quite handy when you're working in space. Soundwave's droning monotone carries on even out here, "SWINDLE, ENSURE LOCKDOWN OF THE RAIL SUPPORT, THEN START WORK ON CALIBRATION DUTIES." Swindle IS the weaponsmith after all, and quite a good tech! Soundwave personally takes one of the large modulator generators from Blast Off's payload then moves it. "YOUR CARGO BAY IS EMPTIED, BLAST OFF." With that, he moves to start work with the super weapon. Space Shuttle has noted Swindle's earlier mutterings, and means to discuss that little matter- and one of his own- with the other Combaticon- but not among this ...company. Once everyone is out, he transforms to get a better look at things. Landing easily on the satellite, he walks towards Soundwave. "We have brought the supplies- on time and undamaged. I see you are already here. Are things running smoothly?" Blast Off shifts into his battle-ready robot mode. Well this is certainly interesting. What could Soundwave be planning to do with that design spec? But that's questions for another time. He doesn't want to risk ticking Soundwave off right now. "Of course, sir." He uses his magnetic grappler to pull himself over to the assembly and up to where the rails are attatched to the rest of the machinery. Rumble brings the cart to a stop near Swindle, dropping off a number of important supplies for him to use on the weapons array. "Special delivery," he deadpans with a smirk, then heads off to drop off some supplies for the satellite engineers. Soundwave responds, almost idly to Blast Off, "THE SITUATION IS IN ACCEPTABLE PARAMETERS. HOWEVER, SECURITY FOR THIS SATELLITE IS OF HIGH IMPORTANCE. THE AUTUBOTS HAVE HAD A HABIT OF LATE TO SABOTAGE ANYTHING WE PUT IN THE SKIES. IF BLURR ENDS UP OUT HERE TO DESTROY IT, SEE THAT HE DIES FOR HIS EFFORTS." Is that...anger?!? in Soundwave's voice? He moves to direct the DEC, pointing to the relay, "ATTACH THE MAIN RAIL LINE." Loco huffs out a breath, "We know what we're doing. Hrmgh Spent all that time working undercover, sabotage, and suddenly now I'm a glorified construction engineer..." The mech mutters under his breath. Soundwave doesn't respond. Swindle squints one optic at Rumble for a moment. Then reachs over to pat the tape on the head. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get your chance to properly break someone instead of doing mecha-labor eventually." Then picks up one of the parts off the cart, which happens to be the locking rings for the rail assembly. "Special indeed." He puts them in place and hovers out of the way of the incoming railline to be inserted. Blast Off watches Swindle give his greasiest smile and ooze the oily charm.... and he has to wonder how the other Combaticon does it, when he knows Swindle has little love for Soundwave. Blast Off is forced to be far more respectful than he'd *like* to be right now... but at least he doesn't have to smile or act friendly. Of course, maybe that's because if he *were* smiling and acting friendly THAT would seem very, very suspicious. Sometimes it's nice to have everyone expect you to act cold and aloof....